


breathe until your lungs give out

by sakura_freefall



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Major character death - Freeform, Maybe - Freeform, Mileven- Freeform, The mileven could be read as friendship, if you so prefer, it's pretty open-ended, set at the end of season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakura_freefall/pseuds/sakura_freefall
Summary: "No, El. You're- you're not a monster. You're a friend. You helped get rid of the monster!""Mike," she sighs. "I am monster. Monster is..." she weakly pointed to her head. "Monster is in here."
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Dustin Henderson & Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler
Kudos: 10





	breathe until your lungs give out

**Author's Note:**

> I've been binging some (questionably acquired) episodes of stranger things, finally in order this time...
> 
> whoops, this happened.

Mike sees the blood first.

It's everywhere, that's why. Splattered across the floor of the science classroom, swirls of dark red. Not the sticky putrid-green fluid coating the Demogorgon, but human blood. It has a coppery scent that fills Mike's nostrils and makes him want to choke.

Then, once his mind has steadied enough to see anything other than red, he sees her. El, her pink dress stained red all over, her boy-short hair spiked with sweat, her eyes half-closed.

_No no no no no no no..._

Before he realizes it, he's running towards her. Forget about the monster or if it's still there or not, forget about Lucas's warnings, forget about the _damn_ gate. The world condenses to him and her.

"El?" he asks, crouching down beside her.

Eleven blinks open her eyes, breath rattling in her throat. "Mike?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here. I've got you." Mike pulls Eleven's head into his lap. "I've got you."

"Monster. Gone."

"What?"

"Bad monster. Gone. B- banished," she repeats, fumbling over the last word.

Normally, Mike would be pressing her, asking her where it was 'banished' to, whether it was really gone, but right here, none of that matters anymore.

"Are... are you all right? Are you hurt, El?" For a moment, he feels hope in his chest. Maybe the blood wasn't hers, maybe it was from the monster, maybe she knocked over the red dye-

"Hurt." Tears pool in her hazel eyes.

"Where? Where are you hurt?" Mike shouts.

"Right here." She points to a tear in her dress, and Mike almost screams, because there's a huge cut across her stomach, still dripping blood.

"Wh- what- who did this to you?! Who did this?"

"Monster," she moans. "Bite. Not careful." Mike doesn't know whether she means her or the monster, but he doesn't care, doesn't care at all. He tears off his jacket, presses it to the wound, tries to drum up knowledge of everything he's learned in Life Science, how to stop bleeding, how to-

_"Mike? Mike? Come in! Over!"_

He runs to the table where he left his walkie-talkie a few seconds ago, jamming the call button under his thumb. "Dustin? Lucas? El's hurt! Over!"

The only reply is the faint buzz of static.

"LUCAS!" he screams, hearing it echo through the empty hallways. "DUSTIN? NANCY? ANYONE!?"

"Stop," groans El.

"C'mon, El, no, we're gonna get you help. We're gonna get you better and you can have a whole box of Eggos. Just... hold on, okay?"

"Mike," she says again.

"Eleven..."

"Friend. Best friend."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm here. I'm here." 

"Cold."

"No! El! Don't! C'mon, what do I do? Tell me what I should do!"

"Can't." She shivers, struggling to breathe. "No more monster."

"Yeah, I know. No more monster. I know. You're safe."

"No," she says again. "No more monster. So no more me."

"What? What do you mean? El? EL?!"

"Monster," she whispers. "Me. I am monster."

"No, El. You're- you're not a monster. You're a friend. You helped get rid of the monster!"

"Mike," she sighs. "I am monster. Monster is..." she weakly pointed to her head. "Monster is in here."

"No! El? El? What do you mean? I don't understand!"

"Lucas right," Eleven says. "I am gate. To upside-down."

"No! You can't be! You're- you're just a person! You aren't the gate!"

"I... I'm sorry, Mike."

"No!"

"I was friend. I lied. Friends don't lie."

"I don't care! We can deal with this gate thing later! I need you to breathe!"

"Close the gate. Make it gone..."

"No!" Mike would do almost anything to close the gate, to make sure what happened never would happen again, but leaving his friend to die isn't one of them.

"Mike, stop..."

"No! Breathe!" He slaps the side of her face with his hand, panic running through his mind like lightning.

"Please," she gasps out, before her eyes close and her head falls to the side. 

"El! ELEVEN!" Mike grabs her wrist, presses. There's a pulse, but it's fading...

He presses his hands on Eleven's blood-soaked shirt, slaps hard, like the people on the infographic video from gym class. Pinches her nose, and pushes air into her mouth. "C'mon, El! Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!" Her chest rises and falls, faintly. There are footsteps down the hallway. She's still pouring blood. He keeps pushing his breath into her, his world into her, because right now, he'd damn the entire world to save her.

There are voices coming from outside. Help. He doesn't know if they'll be fast enough. Please. Please.

Time slows, and it feels like a million years in a single second. A bleeding, unconscious girl, and a terrified, pleading boy. He doesn't give up, he keeps pushing, keeps whispering one word into the void of the cold, silent room.

_"Breathe."_


End file.
